David Taylor MP backs Labour's balanced new asylum reforms
David Taylor, MP for Hemel Hempstead, has backed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s major package of reforms to the UK’s asylum and returns system, calling them “essential, and the right approach for the country”.
He also welcomed Mahmood’s commitment to creating safe and legal routes for people in genuine need, saying this was “the balanced, fair and humane approach that people expect”. The reforms, set out by the Home Secretary today, are designed to fix what she described as a system: "out of control and is putting huge pressure on communities.”
Mr Taylor said he strongly agreed with her assessment: “The Home Secretary is right to say the current system is not working,” he said. “It is too slow, it costs too much and it creates unfairness at every stage. These reforms are serious, well thought-out and will finally restore control and confidence.”
The proposals include:
- Closing all remaining asylum hotels, which at their peak cost the country £9 million a day, and moving people to larger, purpose-built sites.
- Removing families whose asylum claims have failed when their home country is safe, ending years of costly, open-ended support.
- Ending the automatic right to housing and financial support, replacing it with conditional support based on compliance and individual circumstances.
- A single, faster appeals system so failed claims can be removed much more quickly.
- Visa penalties for countries that refuse to take back their citizens, ensuring removals can actually happen.
- A consultation on planned new powers to take expensive assets from asylum seekers receiving state support so taxpayers are not left paying the full bill.
Mr Taylor said these changes were needed “because the old system simply couldn’t cope due to 14 years of Tory neglect”.